Garment-belt structure



S. FEINSTONE.

GARMENT BELT STRUCTURE.

APPLICATION FILED MAR.3, 1921.

Patented July 26, 1921.

noe ntoz amadlkin 333137115 flue cums UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

SAMUEL'FEINSTONE, or BRooKLYmvEw YORK, AssreNoR renters- BERG BROTHERS 1170., OF NEW YORK, N. Y., A CORPORATION or NEW YO K.

GARMENT-BELT STRUCTURE.

Specificationof Letters Patent.

Patented July 26', 1921.

T 0 all to ham it may concern Be it known that I, SAMUEL FnINs'roNE, a citizen of the United States and resident of Brooklyn, in the county of liingsand State of New York, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Garment- Belt Structures, of which the following is a specification.

The general object of my invention 'is' to provide a very simple and easily manipulated quick-fastening garment belt structure, which may be quickly andeasily adjusted orfitted to different waist sizes; which can be easily secured to the waist-encircling portion of a garment, such as a skirt; which will be free from transverse crumpling at the ends; and which may be manufactured rapidly and economically for sale at a low price.

I have attained these. and other objects by providing a belt of webbing or other suitable belt fabric, with the ends turned back and secured either temporarily or moreor-less permanently to form fastener pockets. One of the bacleturned ends may be made of a substantial length to provide for increasing the effective lengthof the belt, as well as decreasing it, as will appear later. Fasteners are placed in the" belt pockets, and while these may be variously constructed, they are conveniently of wire bent into substantially rectangular outline, .and having the free ends connected at one point. The fastener bodies have substantial width and (usually) greater length, and are dimensioned with re lation to the particular belt so that one end of each body lies in the corresponding belt pocket at or very near one edge of the belt, and the other end of the bodyis-distant considerably from the opposite edge of the belt. Thus when the fasteners are in position the edgeof the belt which is relatively remote from the ends of the fasteners provides a band or strip ofsubstantial width, which may be stitched to the skirt or other garment band by hand, or by a sewing machine without having to raise the presser foot on approachingthe ends of the fasteners. In other words, the fasteners are so arranged that they do not interfere with the convenient attachment of the belt to the gar ment. One of the fasteners is provided,near each endof the outer edge, with an eye, formed, in the convenient type of construction above mentioned, by bending the continuous wire into loop form; and these. eyes pass through holes suitably located in the folded edge of the fastener pocket so that the eye loops are exposed and all otherparts of the fastener are concealed. A cooperating fastener is placed in the other belt pocket, and near each end of the outer edge of this fastener is a hook, likewise formed, in the particular type of construction mentioned, by bending the continuouswi're into hook form; and these hooks project through holes suitably located in the adjacent pocket end-fold, so that the hooks are exposed and A all other parts of the fastener memberare concealed within the pocket. The hooks and eyes may be made so that when they are hooked together the folded edges of the belt fabric are brought very close together and in fact practically into contact, to form a very effective joining of the beltends. The fasteners, each engaging the belt material at two separated points, comprisingusually the major part of the width of the belt, stiffen the belt ends positively transversely, and prevent crumpling or reduction of the width of the belt at these points. The described arrangement is such that by removing the temporary fastening of one of the back turned belt ends, usually the longer one, that is by ripping out the stitches whentheend is fastened by stitching,.the.properfastener position for a particular waste dimension may be noted and holes may be punched through the belt in proper positions and the fastener reinserted, the belt material folded back andsecured, and the superfluousend cut off. These operations are very easily and rapidly performed.

The characteristics and advantages of-the' invention are bestfurther explained in connection with a detail description of-the ac= companying drawing which shows an exemplifying embodiment of the invention. After considering-this itwill be evident-that the invention may be embodied .in other' forms, and also that variations in details may be made, and I, therefore, contemplate the employment of any structures which are properly within the scope of theappended claims.

Inthe accompanying drawings: I

Figure 1 is a perspective view ofua gar ment belt structure embodying the invention Fig. 2 is an enlarged view showing the application of the belt to a typical garment,

in this instance a skirt.

The belt proper may consist of a strip 1 of canvas webbing or other suitable belt material. A very desirable material is a relativelystifi' canvas webbing which does not readily crease or form into folds which would reduce its effective width. Desirably the material has a selvage edge, as indicated at 2.

The ends 3 and 4 of the belt are folded back after the fasteners are put in position and secured temporarily or permanently in any suitable way. For instance, the ends are secured by transverse stitching 5 in Fig. 1, forming pockets 6. and 7 to contain the fasteners. One of the back folded ends, such as 4, is desirably made of considerable length, in this instance much longer than the other end3, for reasons explained below.

Suitable fasteners 9 and 10 are shown in Fig. 5 separate from the belt. Each of these desirably consists of a piece of wire 11,

, although the material and detail form of the fasteners may Vary considerably. For instance they may be punched or stamped out of sheet metal and they may be of solid construction, instead of having a central opening, as in the case of the wire fasteners particularly described here.

Each of the fasteners is desirably of approximately rectangular form and afterbeing shaped is so secured by fastening the two ends of the wire together for example by a sleeve 12 of sheet metal pressed about the adjacent ends of the wire. Each fastener when made of wire in this general manner has a central opening 13, but the general effect of the individual fastening structure is to provide a substantially flat body'of considerable area, laterally, as well as longitudinally, to provide for grasping the belt ends easily and firmly, when the fasteners are in position, to hook up the belt.

At one side one of the fasteners,'such as 9, is provided with eyes l i'formed in this in stance simply by bending the wire into loops and at corresponding positions the fastener 10 is providediwith hooks 15 formed by bending the wire in a manner which is sufliciently explained in the drawing. Desirably the outer'members 16 of the hooks have, as shown in Fig. aslight outward inclination or flare in relation to the body of the fastener to provide for easy insertion into the eyes. Each of the fasteners desirably has a straight outer edge portion 17 between its fastening members, such as th e'eyes or hooks, and desirably also each of the fasten ing members, such as the eyes 14 for example, are set inward some distance from the ends of'the fastener, providing shoulders, 18 or short outer portions substantially in line with the central edge portions 17 In each of the folds indicated at 20, formed by folding back the corresponding belt end, two holes 21 and 22 are punched.

through the belt fabric in positions corresponding with the location ofthe fastening hooks or eyes when the corresponding fastener is placed on the belt with oneof its ends close to or directly in line with one of the edges 'of the-belt. The corresponding fastener is then put in place with its fastening members, such as the eyes or hooks, projecting throughthe holes; the end 3 or 4 is then folded over as in Fig. 1 and secured, for instance by a line of stitching 5, thus usually running close to'the back portion of the fastener.

The fasteners are most desirably proportioned as shown in the drawing, so that when put in position in the manner indicated in a belt of suitable width correspondin to the fastener dimensions in question, one end of the fastening body is located a considerable distance away from one edge of the belt, leaving a strip or band indicatedby the bracket 25. in Fig. 2, of considerable width in any part of which stitching, such as the line of stitching 26, may be placed throughout the length of the belt to secure the belt to a garment, Without parts of the fastening. projecting into thiszone or band of the belt to interfere with the stitching op eration. The belt structure is desirably adapted for the use of machines to sew the belts to the garments and the described arrangement of the fasteners in. relation to the belts, providing a clear band 01 zone 25 free cal garment, such as a skirt, portions 30 of which adjacent to the placket opening are shown secured'tothe belt 1 by the line of stitching 26 which, of course, in the complete garment extends entirely around the waist band of the garment from one end-to the other. 4 No otherconnection betweenthe belt and the garment is necessary, and the main width of the belt, therefore, lies within the garment fabric without attachment, although, of course, if necessary it might be stitched to the garment at other points. i

Before the belt is attached to a garment it may be readily adjusted to the by freein one of the ends, usually the longer en 4, by ripping open the line of stitching 5 when stitehesare usedto secure the fastener at this point, placing the belt about the body and noting the proper belt length, punching holes 21 and 22 at the proper places as indicated in Fig. 4, reinsertingithe fastener, whichmay be either the hook or eye member, folding back the end 4 and stitching along theulines 5, and cutting off any superfluous partof the end i. If the belt structure has been applied to a garment before purchase and it is desired to adjust the belt, a part of the stitching 26 may be ripped away sufiicient to gain access to the belt stitching 5, and the above described operations are then performed, and the separated end portions of the belt is then stitched back by recompleting the line of stitching 26.

In some cases when the belt is applied to a garment the lines of stitching 5 to complete pockets 6 and 7 in the belt ends may be dispensed with. Partial pockets are in that case formed by the lines of stitching 26 which hold the back-folded ends 3 and i of the belt, and the hooked fastener 10 is then positively held in position, and the eyed fastener 9 is sufliciently held'in position, especially when the fasteners are hooked together.

Desirably one of the fastener holes, such as hole 21, is placed very near one edge 0 the belt, as indicated in Figs. 1, 2 and 1. A narrow portion of the belt included in the fold 20, therefore, bears some of the pull when the fasteners are hooked up, and it is for this reason that the edges 2 are desirably selvage edges or that the belt be of quite strong material so that this portion between the hole 21 and the adjacent edge of the belt will cooperate with. {the shoulder at the point 18 and take its proper share of the pull of the fastening. Similarly the portion of the belt fold engaging with the upper shoulder 18, Fig. 2, takesa very material part of the pull of the fastening. The central edge portions 17 of the fasteners, of course, take the greater art of the strain and convey to it a relative y long portion of the belt fold 20. v

The positive engagement of the active fastening members, such as the hooks or eyes, with the spaced holes 21 and 22, the positions of which usually include as shown, a major part of the width of the belt, prevents creasing or transverse collapse of the belt near its ends, or in other words the fasteners cooperating with the holes are definite stiffeners and retainers for the belt end formation. -This is a very important feature, since without it the end portions of the belt would tend to draw together and users waist form g f each end of the outer reduce the effective width and pressure area of the belt, with obvious accompanying disadvantages.

- The vfastener's 151.138 readily removable to premit washing, either of the belt when re- ;moved, or of the united belt and garment. This is especially true when the stitching 5 washed and the fasteners replaced; and the proper belt length is automatically maintained, since it is only necessary to reinsert the fastener eyes and hooks in the previously existing holes. The belt structure as shown in Fig. 1 consists of a belt and fasteners, which may be rapidly and cheaply )roduced on a large output basis and may, tierefore, be sold cheaply to the general public or to garment manufacturers for application to arments of various sorts.

What I claim is:

1. A garment belt adapted for attachment to a garment waist band, comprising a strip of belt fabric having back-folded ends forming end-folds, and fasteners, each having a body of substantial width and rigidity with one end located near one edge of the fabric strip and the other end located a substantial distance inward from the other edge of the strip, one fastener having eyes, one near edge of the body, projecting through holes in one of said beltstrip end folds, and the other fastener having hooks to cooperate with the eyes, one near each end of the outer edge of the body of said fastener, projecting through holes in the other of said belt end folds.

2. A garment belt structure adapted for attachment to the waist band of a waistencircling garment by overlapping the garment and belt and stitchin along one edge of the combined belt an garment waist band, comprising a strip of belt fabric of substantial width having back-folded ends secured to form fastener pockets, and a substantially rectangular fastener in each pocket dimensioned and arranged so that one end of the fastener body is removed considerably from one edge of the strip to permit stitching to the garment without interference with the fastener, and the other end of the fastener body is close to the other edge of the strip, the fastener body thus extending across a major part of the width of the strip end and preventing transverse crumpling of the belt strip, each fastener body having members ,near the ends of its outer edge projecting through holes correspondingly formed in the fold of the belt strip pocket, said members on one of the fastener bodies being loops and said members on the easily ripped opento permit removal of the fasteners and quickly renewed after the belt is other fastener bodies being cooperating hooks, for the quick connection and disconnection of the belt ends.

3. A garment belt comprising a strip of belt fabric having back folded ends secured transversely of the strip to form fastener pockets, and fasteners, one in each pocket, each fastener being of Wire bent in substantially rectangular outline, and having the ends of the Wire connected at one point, one end of the fastener being locatednea-r one edge of the fabric strip and the other end located a substantial distance inward from the opposite edge of the strip, one fastener having eyes, one near each end of thebody,

Signed at New York, in the county of' New York and State of New York, this 15th day of February, A. D. 1921. v

' SAMUEL FEINSTONE. 7

having hooks to co I 

